To facilitate waste disposal and removal in the most efficient manner possible, many businesses employ a waste compacting unit with a compactor mounted on a support frame and over a container. The compactor receives waste materials through an opening into a receiving chamber and compresses them into the subjacent container. When full or at scheduled times, the container is withdrawn from beneath the compactor by a waste transport vehicle having a pair of forked arms which straddle the sides of and interlock with fork-receiving channels on the container. The vehicle then backs up, pulling the container free from beneath the compactor. The forked arms of the vehicle then pivot to lift the container up, over the vehicle cab, where the contents of the container fall into a waiting trash-receiving chamber mounted to the vehicle.
The compactor of these units generally includes a pivotally supported ram which swings down upon the trash, compressing it both down and to one end of the container. It is therefore a design objective to include a mechanism connected between the container and the compactor support frame to prevent the container from moving while the compacting ram exerts horizontal forces on it. Various designs have been developed to releasably lock the waste container with an associated compacting unit. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,289 discloses a connector for a refuse container and compactor having a pair of pins extending outwardly from opposite sides of the compactor, the pins adapted to engage with forwardly extending arms with specially shaped notches which cause the container to be pulled into tight engagement with the compactor when the pins enter into notches on the arms. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,721 discloses an interlocking device for releasably locking a container to its overhead compactor, the device including first and second members formed of flat plates bent along their longitudinal length to form angled sections, one plate being mounted to the compactor and the other plate being mounted in opposing, mirrored fashion to the container. When the container is moved laterally, the plates mutually engage, the container rising and falling as the plate of the container rises up and over the hump of the plate of the compactor. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,660 discloses a mechanical lock-in device for a front loader compaction assembly, the lock-in device including a vertically reciprocating locking member which is lifted by lifting forks of a collection vehicle when the forks are inserted into the container side pocket, thereby releasing the locking member from engagement with a corresponding bracket on the compactor support frame. Each of these devices, while operable to lock a container with its corresponding compactor without requiring the driver of the waste collection vehicle to leave his cab, each has its own disadvantages in manufacturing costs, reliability, and limitation on overall design of the compactor and container combination.
Another feature of compactors of this nature is the side from which the container is inserted and withdrawn relative to the waste-receiving opening of the compactor. That is, some compactors are mounted flush with the side of a building with the opening to the compactor receiving chamber being inside the building. To empty the container, the waste collection vehicle must engage and withdraw the container from the rear, opposite the side of compactor opening. In other instances, for example, when the compactor and container combination is situated in the corner of a fenced-in lot, refuse is received through a door on the front of the unit, and the container is withdrawn by the waste collection trucks also from the front of the unit. Furthermore, there are a number of different sized waste containers typically available to the user. This requires the supplier to have eight, ten, twelve or even more differently sized and configured compactor/container units to accommodate size and loading/unloading requirements.
What is needed is a vertical compactor assembly which easily provides for varying access requirements and multiple size requirements, and which provides a reliable locking mechanism for securing the container to the compactor during operation.